I have pointed out in Distorted Truths (DT) that in the arena of present world power, the Afrikan is conspicuously absent. Can we expect otherwise? Even if it were present, would it be Afrikan-centered power? After centuries of being subjected to foreign worldviews, imperialism, enslavement, racism, and religious indoctri- nation, we should be surprised if it were. Has the West embarked on new foreign policies of “isolationism” or “non-interference?” Has the West (and now the East, China, Japan, Russia, India and the like) truly aided Afrikan development? (Should be expect them to?) Furthermore, has the West ever left her to develop unencumbered? Quite the contrary has been its historical record. Western power is predicated on wantonly exploiting the human and mineral resources of weaker nations. As for mineral resources, Afrika lists as the richest continent on the planet. Keeping the nations of Afrika destabilized and underdeveloped remains advantageous for western powers. This simply facilitates Afrika’s pillaging. The West maintains an unspoken foreign policy toward Afrika — Destabilization. John Perkins in his Confessions of an Economic Hit Man illustrates this policy. Although his ideas focus on United States policy, the attitude and behavior are indicative of the historical relationship between the West and the rest of us. Perkins explains that the U.S. has three lines of offense. First, the U.S. sends in economic hit men. These individuals attempt to bribe foreign governments and leadership by seducing them financially to obtain business concessions. The usual entrapment consists of huge loans that due to severe interest repayment rates the nation defaults upon, at which point concessions are forced. If this method fails, the CIA then uses what Perkins calls “jackals” who concoct and orchestrate coups or assassination plots.5 If the jackals are unsuccessful, the United States (or its western allies) creates a pretense for military intervention. In truth, after a careful review of Western historical behavior toward Afrika (and her people), one would have to conclude that destabilization has always been the only foreign policy the West has had toward Afrika.

In DT, I also asked: “Is there any Afrikan nation that can provide the leadership that will help transform the continent into a united “modern” nation-state? Can Nigeria, Ghana, South Afrika, or Senegal oblige? Whether any of the above nations (or others unmentioned), or economic, political, or spiritual organizations arise to meet the challenge, that entity must be rooted in the Afrikan worldview. We have presented and examined this worldview and by now hope the reader perceives the intrinsic spiritual, cultural, and even historical perspective it provides for contemporary Afrikan unity; one that must serve as the basis for a Pan-Afrikanist objective aimed to restore our world power and historical greatness.

I have also stated that the way Nigeria goes is the way Afrika goes.

Today's talk is simply a prelude to a series of blogs I will post for the next four days starting tomorrow.

In June 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a speech in Zambia warning of a “new colonialism” threatening the African continent. “We saw that during colonial times, it is easy to come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders and leave,” she said, in a thinly veiled swipe at China.

In 2009, China became Africa’s single largest trading partner, surpassing the United States. And China’s foreign direct investment in Africa has skyrocketed from under $100 million in 2003 to more than $12 billion in 2011.Since China began seriously investing in Africa in 2005, it has been routinely cast as a stealthy imperialist with a voracious appetite for commodities and no qualms about exploiting Africans to get them. It is no wonder that the American government is lashing out at its new competitor — while China has made huge investments in Africa, the United States has stood on the sidelines and watched its influence on the continent fade.Despite all the scaremongering, China’s motives for investing in Africa are actually quite pure. To satisfy China’s population and prevent a crisis of legitimacy for their rule, leaders in Beijing need to keep economic growth rates high and continue to bring hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. And to do so, China needs arable land, oil and minerals. Pursuing imperial or colonial ambitions with masses of impoverished people at home would be wholly irrational and out of sync with China’s current strategic thinking.Moreover, the evidence does not support a claim that Africans themselves feel exploited. To the contrary, China’s role is broadly welcomed across the continent. A 2007 Pew Research Center survey of 10 sub-Saharan African countries found that Africans overwhelmingly viewed Chinese economic growth as beneficial. In virtually all countries surveyed, China’s involvement was viewed in a much more positive light than America’s; in Senegal, 86 percent said China’s role in their country helped make things better, compared with 56 percent who felt that way about America’s role. In Kenya, 91 percent of respondents said they believed China’s influence was positive, versus only 74 percent for the United States.And the charge that Chinese companies prefer to ship Chinese employees (and even prisoners) to work in Africa rather than hire local African workers flies in the face of employment data. In countries like my own, Zambia, the ratio of African to Chinese workers has exceeded 13:1 recently, and there is no evidence of Chinese prisoners working there.Of course, China should not have a free pass to run roughshod over workers’ rights or the environment. Human rights violations, environmental abuses and corruption deserve serious and objective investigation. But to finger-point and paint China’s approach in Africa as uniformly hostile to workers is largely unsubstantiated.If anything, the bulk of responsibility for abuses lies with African leaders themselves. The 2011 Human Rights Watch Report “You’ll Be Fired If You Refuse,” which described a series of alleged labor and human rights abuses in Chinese-owned Zambian copper mines, missed a fundamental point: the onus of policing social policy and protecting the environment is on local governments, and it is local policy makers who should ultimately be held accountable and responsible if and when egregious failures occur.China’s critics ignore the root cause of why many African leaders are corrupt and unaccountable to their populations. For decades, many African governments have abdicated their responsibilities at home in return for the vast sums of money they receive from courting international donors and catering to them. Even well-intentioned aid undermines accountability. Aid severs the link between Africans and their governments, because citizens generally have no say in how the aid dollars are spent and governments too often respond to the needs of donors, rather than those of their citizens.In a functioning democracy, a government receives revenues (largely in the form of taxes) from its citizens, and in return promises to provide public goods and services, like education, national security and infrastructure. If the government fails to deliver on its promises, it runs the risk of being voted out.The fact that so many African governments can stay in power by relying on foreign aid that has few strings attached, instead of revenues from their own populations, allows corrupt politicians to remain in charge. Thankfully, the decrease in the flow of Western aid since the 2008 financial crisis offers a chance to remedy this structural failure so that, like others in the world, Africans can finally hold their governments accountable.With approximately 60 percent of Africa’s population under age 24, foreign investment and job creation are the only forces that can reduce poverty and stave off the sort of political upheaval that has swept the Arab world. And China’s rush for resources has spawned much-needed trade and investment and created a large market for African exports — a huge benefit for a continent seeking rapid economic growth.

Yesterday I wrote a blog about the lack of a wisdom tradition in Western culture. By wisdom tradition I was referring to the tradition of a culture to rely on centuries of knowledge derived from various sources (intellect, emotions, intuition, imagination, etc.), which have been verified as suitable for sustaining that culture, based on the accumulated and living experiences of the people, not simply derived from philosophical disquisitions or hypotheses and experimentation done in a laboratory. Without such a tradition, without being in constant communication with the living world/earth, human beings can loose their “way.” And that way is none other than the way of Nature—Maat by another name; Ekimi by another. There are various names in various traditions for the “way” of Nature. The West has not learned to be guided by the way. And with their limited knowledge of consequences, they continue to alter, disrupt, and challenge, and even violate Nature. Their assault is unending, as they persist in playing “God.” Science manipulating DNA I would say constitutes playing “God.” In addition to cloning, in recent decades, developmental biologists have been researching and developing techniques to facilitate same-sex reproduction. Scientists are also experimenting with the development of female sperm and male eggs, with female sperm closer to being a reality for humans. (Japanese scientists have already created female sperm for chickens.) If created, a "female sperm" cell could fertilize an egg cell, a procedure that, among other potential applications, might enable female same-sex couples to produce a child that would be the biological offspring of its two mothers. It is also claimed that production of female sperm may stimulate a female to be both the mother and father (similar to asexual reproduction) of an offspring produced by her own sperm. (Talk about misandry.) In 2004, by altering the function of a few genes involved with imprinting, Japanese scientists combined two mouse eggs to produce daughter mice. There are some scientists that have speculated about the possibility of creating life non-reproductively in the laboratory. Several scientists have succeeded in producing simple viruses from entirely non-living materials. These experiments thus far have had limited success. But the production of a truly living organism with no ancestors, which would be a much more complex task, is becoming more a possibility as science “progresses.” In fact, a synthetic genome has been transferred into an existing bacterium where it replaced the native DNA, resulting in the artificial production of a new M. mycoides organism. I always ask myself a series of questions when I read about these experiments, like, haven't these guys seen Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? What happens when s#!t goes wrong? Nature isn't doing a good enough job? Western man has already demonstrated a disregard for life as it is, so what is his point in trying to create it? Can he do a better job than the Supreme Being? Mind you, science isn't the problem; it is the worldview of the scientist we should be worried about. Is there any stopping these mad scientists?

Ontologically, deities and ancestors are on different levels of the hierarchy of life forces. More importantly, we experience them differently. An important distinction between the experience of them, is, that while deities are symbols of cosmic and personal experience, ancestors are symbols of social or collective experience. Both are venerated through food offerings, libation, altars, shrines, festivals and sacrifices. Both can be experienced directly through possession. However, a common way the ancestors communicate with their families is through dreams. They return in dreams usually to an older family member with advice and admonitions. Since Afrikans see sleep as a symbolic death, dreams are considered the realm of the ancestors. (The cycle of sleeping and waking is viewed as a daily rite of passage.)

A general misconception is that all the dead become ancestors, when in fact, only those who lived exemplary lives (by the standards of their society) will be elevated to ancestor status. Some will be forgotten because of the lives they led, and others for the way in which they died. Ikenga-Metuh cites several qualifications the departed must meet and some procedures that must be followed before a person can become an ancestor. Generally ancestorhood requires “old-age, Offspring, good moral life, and [specific] funeral rites; some societies add a fifth requirement — Good death.” All societies usually require old age of course. It is veneration that makes ancestorhood possible; if a person has left no one behind, that person cannot be elevated to the status of ancestor. Therefore, having a child is normally required to become an ancestor. However, among the matrilineal Akan of Ghana, it is a mother’s eldest brother, who may be childless, to whom a stool (symbol of ancestral power) is dedicated and not one’s father. As a result, we must view ancestral veneration groups as lineage associations and not domestic filial groups.

Ancestors in a strict sense are responsible for social morality and the maintenance of cultural norms. They are guardians of the lineage group. Physical death has transformed them, whereas now they are closer to more vital life forces, and as such, are more knowledgeable and powerful. Their new position affords them the benefit of foreknowledge. Some duties of the ancestors are to warn, guide, and advise their relatives on earth. They are custodians of traditional laws and customs. As such, they also mete out rewards and punishments. As guardians of family affairs, traditions, ethics and activities, an offense in these areas is an offense against the ancestors, who then, acting as invisible “police,” discipline the offending responsible members of the family and community.

If a person is a liar, an adulterer but follows clan protocol, feeds his shrines, and maintains the proper relationship with his ancestor, he will become an ancestor in “equal standing” with other ancestors. If he upholds the clan standards, it is of little significance how he functions as a person. (We must remember ancestors are guardians of social/group morality and not personal propriety.) His personal behavior only becomes an issue when he does something that merits expulsion from his lineage group or clan. If expelled, he will not receive a burial requisite of becoming an ancestor. In many societies, funeral rites are viewed as absolutely essential for successful ancestral transition — and when not performed properly or completely — a person can be denied entry into the ancestral realm.

Untimely deaths also preclude a person from ancestorhood. Afrikans believe a person naturally should live to a ripe old age. When this fails to happen, they believe the person was unable to fulfill his destiny and as a result is not entitled to become an ancestor. Deaths by suicides, accidents, or diseases disqualify the person as well. They do not receive their full funeral rites.

The irreverent dead do not become ancestors. When these persons were alive, they fail to live up to clan obligations and norms, consequently, there is no desire to recall their deeds and more important, to have them “reborn.” Afrikans do not want certain persons to return. On the other hand, ancestors are persons who have fulfilled society’s definition of acceptable behavior. Afrikans consciously venerate and welcome those persons who were exemplars of society’s values to come back into the lineage. The lineage wants to reduce their “bad characters” and in this sense, funerary rites provide for a type of “spiritual eugenics.”

The West holds many misconceptions about traditional societies and one is that they are static. It is not that Afrikan societies are static; Afrikan societies are structured more for subtle change rather than radical extreme changes. Afrikan society is constantly replenishing its ancestors. As elders/ancestors pass from one world to the next, and back again (as the reincarnated ancestral soul), they carry their experiences. When they return to the physical realm via their grandchildren, they undoubtedly bring their experiences into the present; Usually, in the Afrikan conception, an ancestor returns as but one aspect/soul of the multiple souls a person possesses. Through divination it is determined which ancestor has returned. As the “reborn” ancestor’s life force influences the person it has “incarnated,” its experiences are not so far removed from the present, as it is just two generations removed from it. Therefore, change occurs through this process. In this subtle fashion, the past influences the present and things change from generation to generation. When change occurs in this way, society accepts it as the will of the ancestors who have come back (and of course the Supreme Being). Afrikans look forward to having children because this provides a means by which the ancestors can return. Likewise, parents want their children to have offspring to provide the path for them to return as ancestors. While in the spirit realm, the ancestors also fortify their family by giving advice, blessings, and guidance, ensuring that when they do return, they come back to a more prosperous family.

Now what does this have to do with some Apes? How can Apes be symbols of social customs and moral excellence? I'll be redundant and re-post my joke from last week.

A little girl asked her mother, "How did the human race appear?"

The mother answered, "God made the first two human, one male the other female and they had children and so was all mankind made.

"Two days later the girl asked her father the same question.

The father answered, "Many years ago there were monkeys

from which the human race evolved.

"The confused girl returned to her mother and said, "Mama, how

is it possible that you told me the human race was created by

God, and Dad said they developed from monkeys?"

The mother answered, "Well, dear, it is very simple. I told you

about my side of the family and your father told you about his."

I guess you know which parent represents Afrikan people and which represents Europeans!

I am not human because I am an animal that makes tools, I am human because my culture cultivated specific qualities in me, sharing and caring, being two of the most quintessential. Human beings are consciously created by culture, and are not automatic by-products of living!!! And it is those who came before us, the ancestors, who laid that groundwork, and this is why we must be ever thankful to them, this is why we honor our ancestors.

State of Africa Africa, this year, celebrates the Golden Jubilee of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). During these 50 years the continent has progressed steadily. Let me, therefore, take this opportunity to brief you on the current status of the continent as follows: Peace and Security Up to the early 1990s, the continent was plagued by numerous conflicts and the cost of these conflicts on Africa was incalculable. However, since the late 1990s, conflicts and violence have decreased substantially on the continent. Africa has experienced a dramatic decline in the number of violent conflicts as compared to other developing regions. A large measure of stability is being restored in many conflict afflicted parts of the continent such as the Horn of Africa, the Great Lakes region, although some challenges remain in places like Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and some parts in West and Central Africa. We have worked closely with our Peace and Security Council to expeditiously address conflicts, prevent crisis as well as the management and resolution of volatile situations on the continent. The African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), the Panel of the Wise and the Continental Early Warning System, are some of the instruments being utilized, in this regard. Others include, post-conflict reconstruction and development support programmes, the African Standby Force and the Peace support missions. What is required now is to mobilize more resources for the functioning of the APSA so that Africa can take full "ownership" of it, and optimize the use of the various instruments that have been created. This will help to better manage the different stages of conflict situations, from prevention to reconstruction, making full use of mediation and, if necessary, preventive deployments. We are confident that promoting peace and security in Africa will enable the continent to take full advantage of its immense potentials. Democracy The African continent is making good strides on the road towards democratization and good governance. In spite of some challenges, free, fair and transparent democratic elections are increasingly the norm with several examples of peaceful handover of power. In the 1960s and 1970s, Africa averaged only 28 elections for the decade. By the 1990s, this had increased to 65 per decade. Between 2000 and 2005 alone, African countries held 41 elections. In 2011, 18 countries in Africa were considered electoral democracies as compared to only four in 1991. Impunity is also being progressively reduced. Another positive development is that increasingly, more elections are achieving the minimum standard of democratic fairness, signaling improved quality of the electoral process. Other aspects of the governance picture in Africa relate to the rule of law and corruption, and improved citizen participation and accountability, all of which clearly show signs of improvements and a rejection by Africans of the old ways of doing things. As one way of enhancing democracy on the continent, the African Union established the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) where African countries peer review each other on four components: democracy and political governance; economic governance & management; corporate governance; and socio-economic development. Some 32 of the 54 African countries have joined and 16 so far have been voluntarily assessed. The African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance adopted by the AU in 2007 whose purpose is to deepen commitment to democratic principles, elections, the rule of law and respect for Human Rights, has also been developed. In addition, the African Governance Platform has also been put in place on the continent aiming at establishing in a near future an African Governance Architecture. Macroeconomic Performance Between 2002 and 2008 the continent grew at an annual average rate of 5.6 per cent. This growth was interrupted in 2008 by the global financial crisis and fell to 3.1 per cent. However, despite the crisis, on average, Africa grew at around 6 per cent during the past decade, making it one of the fastest growing regions of the world after East Asia. This was mainly due to the commodity price boom, increase in domestic demand and consumption, improved macroeconomic management and governance, a rising middle class and urbanization, increased global trade links, favorable weather conditions and reduced political conflicts and civil unrests. Between 2000 and 2009, eleven African countries grew at an annual rate of 7 per cent or more, which is considered sufficient to double their economies in ten years. Between 2000 and 2011 six of the fastest growing economies were African. Africa’s collective Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at US$ 2 trillion today is roughly equal to Brazil’s or Russia’s. Despite the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the subdued growth in North America and China, Africa’s medium-term growth prospects, projected at 4.8 per cent in 2013 and 5.1 per cent in 2014, remain strong. The business climate on the continent has also improved and there is a nascent and growing middle class which stands at 355 million people or 34 per cent of the total population in 2010, thereby increasing the continent’s consumer base and providing an impetus for investment by foreign investors such as those from Mexico. Africa’s external debt has fallen significantly in recent years, from 53.6 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) in 2000 to 20.6 per cent of GNI in 2011 largely through the adoption of prudent macroeconomic strategies, including tighter fiscal policies and an increased emphasis on domestic resource mobilization, amongst other strategies. Another fact has been the extensive international agreements on external debt forgiveness, including the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) to cancel outstanding debts of Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs), as agreed at the 2005 Gleneagles Summit, and the Paris Club’s Evian Approach for non-HIPC countries. However, increased borrowing to finance development and infrastructure projects still presents a challenge to Africa’s debt performance in the medium- and long-term. Foreign direct investments (FDI) inflows to Africa have experienced a boom over the past ten years, increasing from US $9.6 billion in 2000 to a pre-crisis high of US $58.9 billion in 2008, and have since rebounded to US $50 billion in 2012. Investment flows have been driven by high returns across all sectors in Africa, particularly with respect to commodities and the construction sector, as well as the marked improvements in the ease of doing business and the global perception of Africa as an investment destination. Flows from traditional European and North American sources have been complemented by new investments from Southern partners such as Turkey, China, India, Brazil, Mexico, etc. These are important for diversifying sources of investment to mitigate future FDI decreases due to economic crisis. Between 2006 and 2010, gross capital formation as a per cent of GDP fluctuated between as low as 21.4 per cent to as high as 24.5 per cent, and gross domestic savings between 19.3 per cent and 24.4 per cent. Regional Integration For Africa to sustain its current positive economic growth performance, a key priority is to accelerate the depth and pace of regional integration in order to facilitate greater levels of trade, boost diversification and sustainable growth, create larger markets, pool human capital and natural resources, and leverage the different comparative advantages of African countries for the achievement of the continent’s industrialization goal. The OAU Charter and the Constitutive Act establishing the AU identifies regional integration as one of the foundations for Africa’s Unity. The Lagos Plan of Action and the Abuja Treaty elaborate the specific economic, political and institutional mechanisms for attaining this goal. The AU has over the last few decades, supported the creation of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) aimed at consolidating markets, taking advantage of economies of scale and promoting sustainable development. These regional economic communities are: the Southern African Development Community (SADC); the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA); the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS); the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CENSAD); the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS); the East African Community (EAC); the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU); and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). These RECs have focused on eliminating tariffs, promoting free movement of people, goods, services and capital and creation of a monetary union under the aegis of the Minimum Integration Programme (MIP). Intra-African trade in agriculture and manufacturing has reached twice the level of overall trade, creating a solid basis upon which intra-African trade can be deepened through the development of regional value-chains. All these have assisted the continent to make headway in its integration agenda. Efforts are also underway to establish an African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by 2017. Infrastructure Africa’s growth has been aided by the quality and quantity of available infrastructure. The continent’s infrastructure has been responsible for more than half of Africa’s growth performance and has the potential to further contribute to Africa’s future growth. African governments and the private sector are investing about $72 billion annually in new infrastructure on the continent. Governments contribute 65% while the private sector contributes 25% and Official Development Assistance (ODA) contributes 4%. In order to enhance infrastructure provision, the AU has established a flagship programme called the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA). Africa needs to invest US$ 118 billion yearly over the next few years to address the continent’s infrastructure needs and keep pace with economic growth. Power is by far Africa's largest infrastructure challenge with 30 countries facing regular power outages and many paying high premiums for emergency power. It should be noted that the continent has 1/3 of the Global Energy potential and this suggests that this challenge can be tackled. It has become clear that for Africa to increase the rate of infrastructure delivery, a greater focus has to be placed on project preparation and development as well as specialized financial tools to address specific socio-economic development needs and market challenges. In this context, and in collaboration with the African Development Bank, a new infrastructure delivery vehicle called Africa 50 Fund has been established and will be launched in January 2014, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Africa 50 Fund aims at mobilizing private equity fund to accelerate infrastructure delivery in Africa. It focuses on high impact national and regional projects in energy, transport, ICT and water sector. It will be structured as a development-oriented, yet commercially operated entity. Its initial objective is to shorten the time between project conception and financial close. As a commercially operated financial institution, Africa 50 Fund will preserve and grow its capital base, as well as provide high returns to its shareholders. It will have three broad groups of investors, namely, African countries, the African Development Bank and other major development financial and institutional investors such as sovereign wealth and pension funds. With respect to ICT, the continent has made progress although challenges remain. Africa is faced with inadequate broadband network development, weak inter-state broadband connectivity and Internet Networks and the absence of Internet Exchange Point (IXP). Access to several types of digital content is, therefore, a prerequisite for building an African information society. Africa’s telecommunications penetration rate stands at 3 percent compared to an average of 40 percent for other geographical zones. Africa’s needs in the ICT sector exceed US$9 billion. This, therefore, provides an investment opportunity which could be exploited by the Mexican private sector. Specific areas of investment include, among others, the establishment of specialized broadband networks, development of inter-continental connectivity, upgrading of national ICT infrastructure, establishment of Internet Exchange Point Network, and establishment of data centres and building Integrated Fibre Optics in all road and energy transmission projects, as well as, fibre optic access to at least two different submarine cables. Energy Access to energy is critical for the continent’s growth and development. In this regard, the continent’s energy needs, amongst others, include: interconnection of regional power pools into a continental network, integrated development of major hydropower potential, development of Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline as well as the operationalization of Regional Gas Pipelines and petroleum products pipelines; and the establishment of an African Electrification Fund. Enormous potential also exists for the development of renewable and clean energy such as geothermal, wind and solar energy. With special reference to geothermal energy, efforts are underway to develop geothermal facilities in eleven countries on the continent.

In traditional Afrikan societies, adult sexual behavior and expectation was entirely different from the behavioral expectation of children. Just as in the case of cosmogony, where the interpretation of the myth changed to suit one’s maturation, sexual behavior follows a similar course and there are even different behavior expectations between adults and elders. In general we can say that Afrikan sexual behavior move along a continuum from a state of being undiscipline to being discipline, the same maturation one experiences in life. The “human” moves from the world of animality into the world of humanness.

Childhood allow for sexual curiosity and exploration, probing much the ways an animal would as it becomes accustom to a new environment. During this period sexual behaviors are freely expressed (within limits as Kenya demonstrated) and even tacitly encouraged. This is perhaps encouraged almost with the hope that through expression comes satisfaction, and through satisfaction, comes “control” or discipline. Sexuality is never a question of denial or repression, it is more a question of fulfilment, maturity, and discipline. Sexual expression is an area the imported religions suppressed in Afrika. There pent-up, misogynistic, and repressive attitudes toward the body, and especially female sexual expression would discourage, disrupt, and alter Afrikan sexual attitudes and customs.

Labia stretching is the act of elongating the labia minora through manual manipulation (pulling) or physical equipment (such as weights). The procedure was once part of the rites of passage from a girl to a woman. In an earlier blog, I mentioned that in the nkang’a, an almost universal rite of many Bantu cultures, that as the society of women teach the novice various sexual techniques, they performed this procedure. The procedure and rite are part of the Afrikan conception of the human being and the role of culture. The rite is a communal act that sacrifices” the self-centered “individual” (the child), in order to gives birth to the communal person, a person whose identity is established by the community and simple by themselves. To be human is to be part of a community in Afrika.

This procedure is ancient n Afrika. It is practice among the San. Richard B. Lee in his The Dobe Ju/’hoansi demonstrated that one of the oldest cultures in the world, the Ju/’hoansi San, state a goal of sexual intercourse is for each partner to reach sexual orgasm, tain. Ju/’hoansi women have a clear conception of female orgasm, and many say they achieve them regularly. The Ju/’hoansi, like the !Kung, and other San groups practice, labia stretching or elongation, which would make it the oldest Female Genital Modification in the world. According to the San, it is performed for sexual enhancement/ gratification (of both partners) and aesthetics, often creating symmetry. The San say the procedure facilitate female orgasm and ejaculation, and it enhances sexual pleasure for the male as well. The elongated inner labia swell more during sexual excitement, and in doing so, provide a much bigger surface area for penile friction during coitus. This friction in turn helps to trigger female orgasm and ejaculation. The Khoi-San women of southern Afrika extend their labia (called the “Hottentot apron”) to fit the penis like a sheath. Dickinson claims a woman with a hypertrophic labia is also more responsive to vulgar stimulation. With the breakdown in many traditional culture due to Westernization, labia stretching is still performed by families. For example, in Rwandan culture, female family members teach girls at puberty how to pull their labia to lengthen them, using local medicinal flora to ease the process. Women continue the practice into adulthood and through marriage. It purpose is to assist the couple especially the woman to ejaculate when a man strokes the elongated labia gently without any form of sexual penetration.

Cosmology is what I have argued is the key to Afrikan societal organization. Cosmology uses Nature as its teacher and not the philosophy of individuals. Using a Western philosophical reference, one could get caught up in their confusion. Take Kinsey for example. He developed the of “predominant attraction.” He used this idea to describe sexual orientation system based on a seven-point continuum as follows: 0-Exclusively heterosexual with no homosexual; 1-Predominantly heterosexual, only incidental homosexual; 2-Predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual; 3-Equally heterosexual and homosexual (ambisexual); 4-Predominantly homosexual but more than incidentally heterosexual; 5-Predominantly homosexual, but incidentally heterosexual; 6-Exclusively homosexual. Although this may sound intellectual sound or even interesting, I ask: What in Nature did Kinsey use to exact these ideas? They appear to be his own ideas. And this is the problem. However, it we were to make a scale of the range of Afrikan sexual behavior based on how life is experience, i.e., cosmology, it would in Western terms read like this: The person moves from childhood autosexuality (which often includes mutual sex pleasuring, with some behaviors being “bisexual”) to adulthood heterosexuality to elderhood asexuality. Let me elucidate. Children in their curiosity and lack of knowledge will in their gender based age groups will get involved in "sex-play." This is true in Afrikan societies as well as all societies. It is at this age that twinness makes the children more prone to same-sex behavior--when they are prepubescent children. Hence, to Afrikan thought, that is where same-sex behavior belongs--among children, who are self-centered, lack real responsibility, and at the same time unable to procreate. But with puberty, comes the capacity to generate life, consequently, culture must direct the new adult's sexual energy. The energy of puberty is the same energy of ferility--it allows human being to sustain Creation. At puberty, circumcision removes twinness, and the young adults are steered towards marriage. Heterosexuality is the rule, for it is the only type of sexual behavior that is pronatal. The autosexual/same-sex oriented child must become the heterosexual adult. This is a cultural, not a personal imperative. As the adults age, menopause and andropause renders the once fertile and viral couple into a period of life marked by less and less sexual intercourse, which eventually ends in asexuality.

This is the natural course of living. It has nothing to do with the ideas in some individual's head. It is based on cosmology, not philosophy. Like all customs, values, and mores in Afrika, human sexual behavior iis not philosophical; it is not derived from an individual’s opinion but based on the experience of life; it is based on the experience of human beings and has been pass down for generation; it is based on a tradition of wisdom and not simply theoretical science.

I have written a number of blogs about Afrikan sexual expression. My purpose has not been to titillate you, but to expose the reader to Afrikan ideas and practices. The West has bombarded us with its thinking, acting as if there is only one way, the Western way, of do things. The more to understand our traditional worldview, culture, and practices, the better we are prepare to reestablish our selves as power brokers in the world.

P.S. There is a Western craze of Labia Elongation that is current. These fools have contests for the longest labia, with some extending down to a woman's knees.